Somalia

Population: 16.8 million
People in Need: 7.7 million

Our Impact

People Helped Last Year: 490,238
Our Team: 85 employees
Program Start: 1992

The State of Hunger in Somalia

Gripped by the worst drought in 40 years, chronic food shortages, and more than 20 years of conflict, Somalia is on the brink of famine as more than six million people face acute food insecurity.

Prolonged drought has killed one-third of the country’s livestock and food prices have skyrocketed. More than one million people have been forced to flee their homes. Without sufficient access to clean water and nutritious food, severe malnutrition and disease will continue to rise.

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How We're Helping in Somalia

Action Against Hunger’s teams address the immediate and underlying causes of malnutrition. We improve access to clean water, carry out measles vaccination campaigns, run cholera treatment centers, and provide supplies and education to promote hygiene. Our teams are also helping families who face drought and hunger with cash transfers, water trucking, and agricultural innovations such as solar irrigation kits.

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287K

People Reached By Nutrition & Health Programs

93K

People Benefited From Food Security & Livelihoods Programs

Two Female Community Influencers, Fardosa (left) and Amina (right), pose before they head into a home to meet with a mother.

Severe drought in the Horn and East Africa is displacing communities and driving hunger that threatens to worsen in the coming months.

Our female community influencers go from home to home, meeting with mothers, and discussing behavior changes to improve health, including breastfeeding, birth spacing, and delivering their babies at a health facility.

Read More about the Women Saving Lives in Somalia

In drought-prone areas, we're using solar power to fuel everything from water pumps to portable irrigation systems.

Learn more about the Impact of Solar Power

It is always my joy to see women and their children living a healthy lifestyle because of the information we provide...It is not an easy job, but we do it for our community.”

— Action Against Hunger Community Health Volunteer

Learn how women are filling Somalia’s health gap

When she grows up, I want [my daughter] to go to school. I want her to have a better life than the one we live in now...[For now,] I am just so happy to see my daughter in her best state again.”

— Fatuma, mother to Halima

Saving Halima’s Life

Covid-19: Building Local Capacity

When COVID-19 arrived, we quickly sprung to action to support the government in controlling the pandemic. As private hospitals shut down due to fears of the virus, our teams stepped up our support of health centers, treatment facilities, and isolation wards.

In De Martini Hospital – which was, for many months, the only operational quarantine hospital in Mogadishu – we provided PPE and medical supplies. We also supported frontline health staff with training and salaries.